And how carefully I watched my two little gardens!
For three days the pot of earth kept its secret. Nothing happened there, so far as I could see. But the beans that were laid upon the cotton wool grew fat and big by the second day, just like those that your teacher soaked over night; and by the third day their seed coats had ripped open a little way, just as your coat would rip open if it were tightly buttoned up and suddenly you grew very fat; and out of the rip in the seed coat peeped a tiny white thing, looking like the bill of a chick that is pecking its way out of the eggshell which has become too small to hold it.
Very quickly this little white tip grew longer. It curved over and bent downward, piercing its way through the cotton wool into the water.
Fig. 88
About this time the pot garden began to show signs of a disturbance. Here and there I saw what looked like the top of a thick green hoop (Fig. [88]).
What had happened, do you think?
Why, first this bean had sucked in from the damp earth so much water that it had grown too fat and big for the seed coat; and it had torn this open, just like the other bean, pushing out its little white tip; and this tip had bent down into the earth and taken a good hold there, lengthening into a real root, and sending out little root hairs that fastened it down still more firmly.
Fig. 89